On the way to work I saw a man pick up a thick gold ring from the pavement. Seeing I had noticed, he looked at me with a big grin, held the ring out to show me and asked: "You think it's real gold?".

"Yes," I said, spotting the hallmark, "You should hand it in to the nearest police station."

Whether he did or not I'll never know, but I hope so because I keep thinking of the unfortunate owner who had lost what looked like their wedding ring. The chances are that if the finder does hand the ring in they will get to keep it in the end anyway.

A couple of years back I found two thick silver bands together in the gutter near my house, one of them stamped with the name of a classy Italian jeweller (as a Google search later revealed). I guessed the rings had slipped off someone's finger as they got out of a parked car and slammed the door. But any car on which I could have left a note was long gone, so I handed the rings in to the local police station.

The duty officer filled out a form and gave me a receipt explaining that if the rings weren't claimed within 28 days I could come back and claim them for myself. If I didn't go back and they remained unclaimed they would eventually end up in a police stolen/recovered property auction.

I did go back four weeks later to find no one had claimed the rings so they were now legally mine, and I've happily worn them ever since knowing there was nothing further I could do to reunite them with their original owner.

This procedure is the norm for items handed in at police stations. According to Ask the Police, the UK police FAQ database, if you find something you should liaise with your local station. You may agree to hold on to the property on the understanding that if the owner comes forward you must relinquish it, or you can hand it in at your local police station. If you choose to hand it in you will be given the form that entitles you to collect it after 28 days.

But there are exceptions. The police cannot let finders have unclaimed mobile phones or "any other unsuitable objects" that may contain personal data, such as laptops or iPads. Though it is up to individual police forces what happens to these items, they are generally destroyed.

Knowing you stand no chance of getting an iPad back if you hand it into the police and it goes unclaimed might persuade an otherwise honest Joe to just keep it, perhaps after making their own attempt to track down the owner. I would certainly think twice about handing one in. And where do you draw the line between being a responsible, honest citizen and an over-the-top do-gooder who wastes police time? I know I wouldn't bother to hand in a fiver or a tenner spotted on a pavement, whereas I would hand in a wallet with money and/or plastic cards. But what about finding a couple of £20 notes on a bus seat or a pair of designer sunglasses on a park bench? My honesty might also be challenged if spending half-an-hour filling in a form at a police station was going to make me late for work, for example.

Where do you stand? Would you hand in lost property or stick by the old playground chant "finders keepers, losers weepers"?